Willey blasts way to top of PCA MVP Rankings

Willey blasts way to top of PCA MVP Rankings David Willey’s explosive century for Yorkshire against Worcestershire has helped to take the England all-rounder to the top of the Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings for the NatWest T20 Blast. Willey’s 118 from just 55 balls was his second century in the competition and Yorkshire’s highest ever T20 score. Willey in action. The innings earned Willey 40 rankings points towards a match haul of 44 points and he followed up with 17 more points in Wednesday’s win over Durham at Headingley to overtake Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen and go top of the competition PCA MVP. Madsen celebrates. Willey now has 126 points in T20 cricket this season, two more than Madsen with Glamorgan all-rounder Colin Ingram and Essex’s former England all-rounder Ravi Bopara the other men to have reached the 100 points milestone. Bopara went to 100 points by taking six points from last night’s defeat at Lord’s where Tom Helm took five for 11, the best T20 bowling for Middlesex. Helm’s performance earned 23 PCA MVP bowling points and almost doubled his season’s tally in the NatWest T20 Blast. Willey’s points haul for his innings against Worcestershire also took him to 13th on the all-time list of best single innings performances in T20 cricket since the PCA MVP Rankings were introduced in 2007 and were also the best by a Yorkshire player. The PCA MVP Rankings system identifies the match-winners and key influencers of matches throughout the domestic season. The formula takes into account conditions, quality of opposition, captaincy and strike-rates as well as runs scored and wickets taken. Ross Whiteley did his best to outgun Willey as he struck Yorkshire slow let-armer Karl Carver for six sixes in an over in Worcestershire’s reply at Headingley. Whiteley finished with 65 from 22 balls – a third of Worcestershire’s runs – and 18 batting points but his spectacular innings failed to save Worcestershire from defeat. Kent all-rounder Matt Coles took a hat-trick but also finished on the losing side against Middlesex at Richmond. Coles dismissed James Franklin, John Simpson and Tim Southee in the final over of Middlesex’s innings to finish with four for 32 which gave him 16 PCA MVP bowling points. Warwickshire’s New Zealand off-spinner Jeetan Patel, who was the overall PCA MVP winner last year, has moved into sixth place in this season’s T20 rankings after a week of miserly bowling. Patel took one for 29 in the defeat by Yorkshire at Headingley, one for 26 in the victory over Derbyshire and one for 17 in Tuesday’s win at Leicester. Patel has now accumulated 74 points in T20 cricket this season and has moved to 22nd place in the overall PCA MVP. Surrey’s former Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara still leads the overall PCAMVP, which covers all formats, on 382 points with Ingram second on 353. Nottinghamshire all-rounder Samit Patel is 14 points behind Ingram with Hampshire pace bowler Kyle Abbott and Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens both level on 329 points. The full PCA MVP Rankings can be viewed here.